My wife and I attended a wedding in Boone, NC. We flew into Raleigh, which has a real nice airport. Now that we don't fly there, you can still drive from Newport News, Atlanta, or Knoxville. What we liked about the Raleigh area is that it's easy to get to the Appalachian Mountains (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountains ) and to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean (Website: http://www.ncbeaches.com/ ). We were lucky enough to do both! Highways in NC are scenic and easy to drive. If you head to the mountains, the Boone area is a nice place to start. Boone is home to Appalachian State University (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boone,_North_Carolina ) and is named after Daniel Boone. We enjoyed eating at the Woodlands Barbeque (Website: http://www.woodlandsbbq.com/ ). Nearby, you can hook-up with the Blue Ridge Parkway (Websites: http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/ and http://www.nps.gov/blri/index.htmandand and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Parkway and check out the many sights inclluding Blowing Rock (Website: http://blowingrock.com/ ). Asheville, NC is a really nice city (Website: http://www.asheville.com/ ) along the Parkway route. We ate at the Asheville Brewing Company, which had some nice lunch specials (Website: http://www.ashevillebrewing.com/ ) with live music in the evenings. The Biltmore (Website: http://biltmore.com/ ) is also in Asheville. We did not visit it, but we understand that it is worth the visit. Charlotte, NC is the largest city in the state (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte,_North_Carolina). It's a financial center and a nice, clean city. I stayed here once before when my wife had a conference. The downtown area is very nice. We found a Rockbottom on Tryon Street that was busy and good.
The Raleigh area is home to three major universities: Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina. Needless to say, there are numerous college sport activities. Chapel Hill is home to UNC (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_Hill,_North_Carolina ). The UNC campus is very nice. We ate at the Top of the Hill Restaurant (Website: http://www.topofthehillrestaurant.com/ ), and I would highly recommend it. We also visited Talulas (Website: http://www.talullas.com/ ), which we also enjoyed. From Raleigh we headed southeast to Wilmington, NC and Carolina Beach for some water time (Website: http://www.carolinabeachgetaway.com/ ). We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Wilmington and bought some cheap beach chairs. The water was warm, but the sand is a little coarser than what I'm used to. We ate at the Front Street Brewery (Website: http://frontstreetbrewery.com/ ), which we enjoyed! I think that Raleigh is a great jump-off point for the many enjoyable parts of North Carolina. We plan to return and try out Kitty Hawk and the Outer Banks at some point. Enjoy!
Mike Summers
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Raleigh Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Raleigh
Durham Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Durham_(North_Carolina)
Chapel Hill Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Chapel_Hill
Mike Summers - June 2007:
My wife and I attended a wedding in Boone, NC. We flew into Raleigh, which has a real nice airport. Now that we don't fly there, you can still drive from Newport News, Atlanta, or Knoxville. What we liked about the Raleigh area is that it's easy to get to the Appalachian Mountains (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountains ) and to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean (Website: http://www.ncbeaches.com/ ). We were lucky enough to do both! Highways in NC are scenic and easy to drive. If you head to the mountains, the Boone area is a nice place to start. Boone is home to Appalachian State University (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boone,_North_Carolina ) and is named after Daniel Boone. We enjoyed eating at the Woodlands Barbeque (Website: http://www.woodlandsbbq.com/ ). Nearby, you can hook-up with the Blue Ridge Parkway (Websites: http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/ and http://www.nps.gov/blri/index.htmandand and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Parkway and check out the many sights inclluding Blowing Rock (Website: http://blowingrock.com/ ). Asheville, NC is a really nice city (Website: http://www.asheville.com/ ) along the Parkway route. We ate at the Asheville Brewing Company, which had some nice lunch specials (Website: http://www.ashevillebrewing.com/ ) with live music in the evenings. The Biltmore (Website: http://biltmore.com/ ) is also in Asheville. We did not visit it, but we understand that it is worth the visit. Charlotte, NC is the largest city in the state (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte,_North_Carolina). It's a financial center and a nice, clean city. I stayed here once before when my wife had a conference. The downtown area is very nice. We found a Rockbottom on Tryon Street that was busy and good.
The Raleigh area is home to three major universities: Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina. Needless to say, there are numerous college sport activities. Chapel Hill is home to UNC (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_Hill,_North_Carolina ). The UNC campus is very nice. We ate at the Top of the Hill Restaurant (Website: http://www.topofthehillrestaurant.com/ ), and I would highly recommend it. We also visited Talulas (Website: http://www.talullas.com/ ), which we also enjoyed. From Raleigh we headed southeast to Wilmington, NC and Carolina Beach for some water time (Website: http://www.carolinabeachgetaway.com/ ). We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Wilmington and bought some cheap beach chairs. The water was warm, but the sand is a little coarser than what I'm used to. We ate at the Front Street Brewery (Website: http://frontstreetbrewery.com/ ), which we enjoyed! I think that Raleigh is a great jump-off point for the many enjoyable parts of North Carolina. We plan to return and try out Kitty Hawk and the Outer Banks at some point. Enjoy!
Mike Summers
From the Raleigh-Durham Airport (RDU) (Website: http://rdu.com/ ), you can use public transportation from the airport to the city of Raleigh by way of Triangle Bus Route 100 (Websites: http://www.triangletransit.org/maps-and-schedules and
http://www.gotriangle.org/schedules/jan2011/w/t100_0.htm and
http://www.triangletransit.org/sites/default/files/maps-and-schedules/RoutesAndSchedules-100.pdf ).